On the loose again
by A-Karana
Summary: Murder in Stars Hollow. Who killed the woman? And who will be next?
1. Chapter 1

Nearly a year after I last wrote something for GG I am back with this little story. I can already tell you that this is going to be different and I can only advice you not to eat while you read this story. I hope you like it. Thanks to Grizzly for beta- reading!  


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_Story: On the loose again_

_Working title: Body on the ducks_

_Disclaimer: I own nothing!_

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**Chapter 1: The Armbruster victim**

Lorelai opened the door and as the bells jingled she stomped her feet on the ground to get the snow off. Walking towards the counter, she took off her white cap and scarf and unbuttoned her red jacket.

"I was just attacked by evil ducks," she said in greeting as she sat down on a chair. Luke only raised an eyebrow and turned around to the coffee machine so he could pour her the liquid death. "You don't believe me? After I found your present I decided to thank you, so thank you, and wanted to take the shortest path, which meant passing by the lake. So, innocent me was deep in thought, already preparing my "thank you" and "I told you so" speech when suddenly something hacked into my leg. I looked down and I saw Rambo Armbruster followed by his wife the wicked witch of west and their four evil little ducklings, all ready to attack. I started running and they kept chasing me, so I ran faster and I couldn't find the path anymore under all that snow and now my jeans are wet and I have snow in my shoes," she finished her tale and pouted until he placed a cup of coffee in front of her.

"You sure you saw "evil little ducklings?" Because I don't think there are ducklings in the middle of winter." Luke replied and put a plate with a slice of apple pie in front of her.

"See, I told you they aren't normal," she said, taking another gulp of the coffee and then holding the already empty cup out to him. "They breed in hell that's why they don't need the sun." Another eye roll from Luke later, she had a fresh cup of coffee in front of her.

"So, did you bring my shovel?" Luke wanted to know, referring to the snow shovel she'd had for a while now.

"Yes, sure, but you can't see it because I said Abracadabra and made it invisible," she told him with a smile.

"I told you I needed it."

"As far as I remember you yelled at me that you gave it to me three years ago, you didn't mention anything about me giving it back," she grinned. With a heavy sigh he gave up, knowing that if he ever wanted his shovel back he needed to go to her garage and get it himself.

"And what was that present you were babbling about?" he asked just to change to another topic.

"The tulip I found on my porch this morning. I have to say the message is a bit cryptic though," she said and swatted his arm playfully.

"What tulip?" Luke asked confused and pulled his arm off the counter so she couldn't slap him again.

"The tulip on my porch," she repeated.

"Why would I put a tulip on your porch?" he wrinkled his forehead.

"As an apology for not telling me that you moved," she said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I already told you that I would have told you at some point," he argued.

"And I told you that's not what friends do. Friends tell each other when they move," she insisted. Luke knew that it was fruitless discussing this with her. They would only get into another fight and he wasn't up to it so soon after the last one. So he closed his eyes for a second and breathed out slowly.

"Why don't we just talk about something else?" he asked then.

"You just want to change the topic because you know you'll lose," she grinned cheekily. Luke just grumbled something and moved on to his other customers. There weren't that many in the diner because Lorelai had chosen the afternoon lull for her dramatic entrance. Her silence didn't last long and when he walked back to the counter to hand the orders to Caesar in the kitchen, her coffee cup was once again empty and she had polished off the apple pie.

"So you really didn't leave a tulip on my front doorstep?" she wanted to know again.

"Nope," he shook his head.

"Do you know what it means if you didn't send me the flower?" she asked him with an excited smile.

"That I don't like flowers?"

"That I have a secret admirer who is crazy about me," she smiled.

"That someone is crazy. Period," he snorted and caught the napkin ball she threw at him in response.

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After he had finished another round of re-fills, she tugged on his sleeve and asked "Luke can you walk me back home?"

"Would you stop that?" he grumbled and pulled his arm away.

"Please," she pouted.

"Why? It's not like you can get lost in Stars Hollow."

"I'm scared of the Armbrusters," she told him, her pout still firmly in place. He tried to resist, at least for a second, but when he sighed and threw the towel on the counter she knew she had won. Luke disappeared for a minute behind the curtain to get his jacket and his gloves.

"Hurry up, I have to work," he said when he came back downstairs and ushered her out of the diner and into the cold afternoon. They turned right when they left the building and turned right again to get onto the path to the small lake. As Lorelai had said the ways weren't shoveled and they could hear the snow cracking under their shoes. A comfortable silence stretched between them until they reached the lake and Lorelai heard her new enemies.

"Oh no, they know we're here and getting ready to attack," she whispered loudly and stepped closer to Luke.

"You're being ridiculous," Luke snorted but looked around to find the ducks. He found them on their left a few meters away and pointed them out to the crazy female by his side.

"You have to fight them off! Be my hero," Lorelai said and linked her arm through his and pressed into his side. Luke stepped a bit closer to the lake in order to find a stick so he could at least pretend to protect her from the ducks. Lorelai stayed close to him, her eyes never leaving the animals that were still not even close to them.

"What is that smell?" Luke asked quietly more to himself than Lorelai. "Stupid people using the lake as a garbage dump," he grumped although he didn't believe in that theory himself. It wasn't anything he had ever smelled before. It was sweet, nauseating and disgusting. It hung in the air and made him shudder involuntarily. His shuddering drew Lorelai's attention back to him. She turned her head to look at him and froze.

"Luke," she finally pressed out in a toneless voice, the horror in it so evident it made Luke shudder again. He followed her look and hoped that this was only a bad dream.

Luke stared at the surface of the water, his body rigid, his breath loud in his own ears, his heart thumping so hard he thought it might jump out of his chest at any second. He felt Lorelai's fingernails digging into his arm, but it didn't hurt. He felt numb while he stared, then blinked in disbelief. His breathing became faster. The sweet smell hit his nostrils and he felt the nausea rising from his stomach up to his throat, the base of his tongue already jumping. He saw the water cover the blue-ish, swollen face again, rising up to the blonde hair, washing over the open wound on the head and touching the snow covered shore. Then it rolled back, showing the obscure face of what he could only guess had once been the face of a young, beautiful woman. His eyes locked on those of the body and he thought the wide, watery blue eyes would fall out of the head any second, so bloated was the face- just like the rest of the body from what he could see. As he looked at the half-missing tissue of the nose, another cold breeze wafted over to them, and he was brought out of his shock by Lorelai's heavy retching next to him as she vomited the pie she had eaten just minutes ago. He waited until she was done, forcing himself to look at her and not at the gruesome scene by the lake side. He stepped in front of her, blocking her view so she couldn't look at the body again.

"We need to call the police," he told her in a hoarse voice and pushed her backwards, afraid that if he stood beside her she would look back over her shoulder. He didn't want her to see the body again, he would stare at it himself for hours if it would erase the picture that had surely burned itself into her brain. She let him push her back, then, once the lake was out of view, let herself be dragged beside him back to the diner. As soon as he let go of her after he had maneuvered her on a chair his hands started to shake, the nausea came back, but he knew he had to make the call. He had to type the number several times before he got it right. He didn't bother to call the town sheriff, this was not for him, this was for real cops. Coop had never seen a dead body as far as Luke knew, and he was sure he wouldn't know what to do, just as they didn't know what to do. When he heard the male voice of the operator on the other line he told him as fast as he could what they had seen, where they had seen it and how to get there. When he described the body he saw Lorelai dash from the room in the direction of the bathroom, her hand pressed to her mouth. The man told him to hang up and stay where they were, the police would come to them. Luke did as he was told and placed the speaker back on the receiver, his hand shaking so violently that the plastic made angry noises and he thought he might break the phone. He looked up to the chair where Lorelai had sat just a minute ago and suddenly saw the woman from the lake sitting there, her hair wet, her skin blue, her nose half missing, just as he had seen her, the sweet smell of the rotting flesh hanging in the air. He made it to the kitchen sink just in time.

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Important AN:** I have to tell you that I am not a fan of crossovers. That said you will see that this chapter contains characters from another TV show though. This has happened for practical reasons only. I needed characters like this for this story so I borrowed them from another show because it was easier than making them up. If you don't know or don't like the show it's no problem, because once this chapter is over they won't have an important role in this story, if they play one at all. That's also why I didn't label this as "crossover". If you like the show that will make an appaearance though, I hope you'll find said characters written in character. Either way I hope you like the chapter.

Same warning as last time: Please don't eat while reading. Except you're as used to "that kind of thing" as me, then you can even watch "said show" while eating without any problems.

Thanks again to Grizzly for beta reading.

Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. I am glad "my readers" are still out there. As for the updates on the other stories: I can't promise anything, but I will try to finish the stories eventually.

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**Chapter 2: Man in black, woman in blue**

"People, step aside! Please, step aside and let the car through," a police officer yelled and tried to get the crowd that had gathered in front of the yellow FBI tape to move aside so the black SUV could pass. Slowly the car made its way through the crowd and stopped not too far away from the lake and the dead body. While people hurried back to their "front row seats" at the tape, the doors of the SUV opened and a man and a woman stepped out.

"What a hunk," Patty exclaimed when she saw him, and Babette nodded in agreement. He wore a black coat that he left open, a black suit, a white dress shirt, a tie with Looney Tunes characters on it, black Chucks, had brown hair and was very well built. While he looked around, inspecting the crime scene and talked to some officers the woman that had arrived with him put on white latex gloves and pulled her auburn hair into a loose pony tail. She wore blue one piece coveralls and black rubber boots that allowed her to step into the water.

"Who are they?" Babette whispered to Patty while she squinted to see what the script on the back of the lady's coveralls said, but they couldn't read it, she was too far away. Patty, never shy to get the information she wanted, waved in the direction of the man in the suit and signaled him to come over.

"Man in black, can you tell us who you are and what exactly is going on here?" she asked in a flirty tone and he stepped back a bit when she tried to touch him oh so innocently with her index finger.

"I am Special agent Seeley Booth from the FBI, over there is my partner Dr. Temperance Brennan of the Jeffersonian Institute and we are leading the investigation," he informed them.

"Why is the FBI investigating this?" Taylor asked from behind, clearly annoyed that no one was asking him for permission and he was just as clueless about what was going on as the rest of the crowd.

"Because this lake and the park that goes with it are federal property and this makes it an FBI case, Sir," Booth replied.

"This is the Stars Hollow lake and the Stars Hollow park belonging to the community," Taylor protested clearly outraged.

"Can you read this?" the agent asked and presented Taylor his badge, clearly annoyed now.

"Of course I can read this," Taylor replied and looked to Patty and Babette for back up but they watched the argument with amusement.

"Then you can see that it says FBI, right here," Booth said and pointed to the letters on his badge. "And that means that this area here is federal property, otherwise I wouldn't have come down here from Washington D.C," he informed him.

"Washington? Why did you have to come from Washington?" Taylor asked but just then the woman in the one piece suit called.

"Booth! Can you bring me my bag? I left it in the car," she asked, never taking her eyes off the dead woman in front of her. Immediately he hurried to the car and brought her a brown leather bag.

"I need a pair of tweezers and a plastic cup. Could you?" she asked him and held her hands up, the gloves now covered with something that looked like blood, mud and some kind of goo.

"Here you go Bones," he smiled and handed her what she had asked for. While the crowd erupted in sounds of disgust he only flinched slightly when she pulled a maggot out of the woman's mouth and put the white insect into the transparent plastic cup. Next she grabbed another plastic cup and took a water sample and with yet another cup a soil sample.

"Can you send them to the Jeffersonian? I am not sure how long it will take to get her out of here safely and that way at least Hodgins can start working," she requested and handed him the cups.

"Sure Bones," he nodded and handed the cups to a police officer and gave him instructions before he turned back to her and pulled a white notepad and a pen out of his jacket pocket. "Now tell me, what have we got?" he asked.

"Well, from what I can see and that is not too much, I'd say female, twenty to forty years old, Caucasian. I'll be able to narrow down the age and the rest as soon we got her out of the lake and I can see the rest of her body," she informed him and he scribbled the information down on his notepad.

"Why can't we get her out of the lake?" he asked her then.

"Because she has lain exactly this way for a while now and the rate of decomposition in water is different than outside causing a possible fracturing of the lumbar spine if we pull her out. "

"What?" Coop who stood nearby, asked, looking really green in the face.

"She's saying that the body's back would break in half if we move her out too fast," Agent Booth translated for the small town sheriff who stepped farther away from the body and shuddered in disgust.

"Bones it's freezing out here. Tell me what you need to get the body out," he said and she thought for only a second.

"A large tarpaulin and a diver should do," she shrugged. Agent Booth closed his eyes for a second asking himself where he would get a diver out here in this small town. He decided that Hartford was close and that they had to have police divers. When he opened his eyes again he walked to one of the police officers and told him what to order and where to get it.

~*~

"Oh my god, I can see a leg bone," Kirk said four hours later when the police was hauling the body out of the lake and he nearly fainted. Under Dr. Brennan's instructions and with the help of a police diver they had spread a tarpaulin under the body and were now pulling it out. Kirk, like the rest of the people watching, was hit by a new wave of smell that made them nauseous and one person actually started to gag.

"Why are these people standing here if they are only going to get sick and stand in our way?" Dr. Brennan asked her partner before she crouched down beside the body and looked at the lower half of it. Booth, who had once again pulled out his notepad, was writing down what she told him, leaning against one of the spotlights that the FBI techs had set up.

"As I said female, pubic symphysis suggests 30 to 35 years, Caucasian, dead for approximately four to six weeks. According to her pelvic bone she has already given birth."

"She can tell all that from- that?!" Lulu asked with raised eyebrows while she pressed her nose closed with two fingers.

"I don't understand how such a sweet looking little thing can do such a job," Patty shook her head sadly.

"I am not a sweet looking little thing. I am Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist at the Jeffersonian Institute and I am 5'8 which means that statistically I am tall for a woman," Brennan told Patty in a haughty tone when she overheard the comment and actually looked up from the remains.

"Touchy," Lulu muttered while Patty looked offended.

"The cranial vault sutures are ruptured which caused a fast decomposition of the brain mass and the right parietal bone shattered," the anthropologist said while she lifted the head from the ground, turned it as far as she could to inspect the injuries. Most of the spectators looked away in disgust as it was obvious that there was a large hole on the back of the head of the woman. Then she set it back down and looked at the hands. "The triquetrals on both wrists are broken as well as several phalanges and the…"

"Bones!" Booth interrupted her with a sigh. "English please. I lost you at cranial… whatever".

"Someone hit her on the head so hard that the membrane that surrounds the brain ruptured. Her wrists and some fingers are broken and from what I can see her face is covered in bruises. You know I don't assume but I'd say I am 90% sure she was bound, beaten and then her head was bashed in," she summed it up so that he could understand.

"Rape?" he asked.

"I don't know but there should be enough tissue left for Cam to use SPM and find possible hematoma on her vaginal wall."

"Alright, is it ok if I talk to the two who found the body while you keep squinting?" Booth asked her and smiled charmingly at his partner.

"Just a second, I'm done here, I only have to change. Then let's get this whole canoodle back to the Jeffersonian."

"Caboodle. This whole caboodle," he grinned, she shrugged and then he walked over to Coop.

"Can you tell me where I can find," he looked down to his notepad and flipped some pages, "Luke Danes and Lorelai Gilmore?"

"They went back to Luke's diner after they showed the body to the police. They are both pretty shocked- as we all are," Coop replied and glanced to the body that now lay on the grass.

"I can see that," Booth said with one raised eyebrow and looked over to the crowd that still stood by and watched their every move.

"Something like this has never happened here before," Coop tried to justify the curiosity.

"Hopefully it never will again," Booth said quietly and turned around to Dr. Brennan who was just taking off the overalls and changing her shoes. "Come on Bones, let's boogie," he shouted and grinned when he saw the confused look on her face.

~*~

"Mr. Danes, I'm special agent Seeley Booth, this is Dr. Temperance Brennan. I understand you found the body?" a tall man in a dark suit and a black jacket said when he walked towards the counter and showed him his badge a second later.

"Yes, I found the body. Actually, we found the body," Luke said and pointed to Lorelai who sat on her usual stool at the counter, her head hanging over a large cup of coffee. Her fourth one after they had come back from showing the police where to find the dead woman.

"I'm Lorelai Gilmore," she said and looked up at the agent and his partner.

"Can we sit down and talk somewhere?" the agent asked and looked around the empty diner.

"Just sit down at any table you want nobody will stop by now, they are all still out there watching," Lorelai replied.

"Stupid gossip addicts. No respect for the dead," Luke muttered as he made his way around the counter to follow the other three to a table in the middle of the room.

"Can you tell us how you found the body?" Booth asked and poised his pen to take notes.

"Luke walked me home because I was afraid of the Armbrusters," Lorelai started and was interrupted by Booth.

"The Armbrusters?"

"A duck family that lives by the lake," Luke said.

"Why would you be afraid of a duck family?" Brennan asked and stared at Lorelai.

"They sometimes attack innocent people who walk past them," Lorelai shrugged.

"I think the rational thing to do is to check them for rabies," the doctor said and both Booth and Lorelai looked at her questioningly.

"Canine madness," Luke and Brennan said at the same time and earned themselves another round of questioning looks.

"Hunter," Brennan shrugged nonchalantly.

"Angler," Luke said in the same tone.

"Ok, let's get back on topic. The body," Booth led them back to what was important.

"Yes, we walked by the lake because that's the fastest way to my house and we were talking about the Armbr… the ducks and then suddenly there was this smell," Lorelai recounted but had to stop when she felt tears forming in her eyes and her bottom lip started quivering. Luke placed his hand over hers on the table to soothe her and went on.

"I looked down, actually looking for the ducks and then I saw her lying half in the snow and half in the water. We immediately turned around, went back to the diner and called the police," Luke said leaving out the detail that Lorelai had thrown up, knowing that she wasn't the only one doing that since the body showed up in their lake.

The agent took some notes and then asked "Do you have any idea who this woman could be?"

"No, I don't… it's pretty hard to tell," Luke said quietly, referring to the bad shape the body was in and Lorelai placed her hand on top of his.

"I think that's it for tonight, it's pretty late now anyway. If we have more questions we will contact you," Booth said and then turned to his partner. "What do you say Bones, we eat something here and then head back?"

"Sure, good idea," she nodded as enthusiastically and took the menu that lay on the table beside them.

"You can eat after seeing this? I apparently have an iron stomach and I can't eat," Lorelai said still with a queasy feeling.

"It is anatomically impossible to have an iron stomach. Even if there were a surgery, which there isn't, during which they could implant an iron stomach the weight of it would crush the urinary bladder, the gastrointestinal tract and possibly your kidneys. You wouldn't survive it," the doctor said immediately and then fixed her water blue eyes back on the menu.

"Is she for real?" Lorelai asked the two men and while Luke looked just as confused as she did, the agent just shrugged it off and grabbed another menu.

~*~

Much to Luke's and Lorelai's surprise, the agent and the anthropologist ate both dinner and dessert, before leaving. Their departure left Luke and Lorelai alone in the diner. Luke had long closed and cleaned up and still they were sitting side by side on the chairs and stared into the empty room.

"I can't forget her eyes staring at us," Lorelai said quietly without looking at Luke.

"Me neither. And I still see that fly crawling out of her ear," Luke added and closed his eyes only to open them quickly again when the pictures all came back.

"And that smell. I've never smelled anything like that," Lorelai said and sniffed, tears rolling slowly over her cheeks. Luke turned his head and looked at her before he wrapped his right hand around her shoulders and pulled her to him in a hug which she gladly accepted.

"I am afraid to go home and be alone in my house. I don't want to be alone," Lorelai admitted while she sniffed into Luke's chest.

"You can stay here tonight. I can take the couch again, we've done that before," he said and allowed himself to stroke her hair.

"Thank you Luke," she said and pulled back from the embrace.

"You want another cup of coffee before we go up?" he asked her.

"Do you really have to ask?" she asked and gave him a small smile.

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN:** You should thank Grizzly for fixing Emily in this chapter, otherwise one could have easily confused her with Bamm Bamm Rubble

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**Chapter 3: Emily on the loose**

Lorelai pressed her nose deeper into the pillow that smelled like her best friend, took a deep breath in and then slowly let the air back out. She concentrated on her belly and how it filled with air when she breathed in and how it relaxed when she breathed out. The breathing exercises she had learned in a yoga class years ago didn't help her though and every time she closed her eyes she saw the face of the dead woman in front of her, smelled her rotting flesh, and her chest closed and she gasped for air in pure panic. It was nearly three in the morning but she just couldn't sleep and the longer she lay with her eyes open in the darkness listening to the silence in the room, the more panicked she got. She had wanted to concentrate on Luke's snores, the ones she remembered from the last time she had spent the night at his place when there had been a fire at the Inn and guests had occupied her own home. Yet, this time there were no snores to listen to and she knew he was also awake. Whenever she let her thoughts wander, she reached the point where she asked herself, the universe. and god, how a person could do that to another; kill them and dump them by a lake and let them just lie there. When she reached that point she had trouble keeping the tears at bay, and from time to time one escaped and dropped onto the blue and white striped pillow case.

When the police had arrived and had asked them to show them the body, she had wanted to stay in the diner and not got out there again. She had been tempted to tell Luke to do it alone. The look of panic in his eyes that had mirrored hers so completely had made her hesitate, and in the end she had known that she could not let him go out there alone. Side by side they had walked the officers to the body and had stayed a safe distance away so they wouldn't have to see it again. Yet the smell hung in the air still and once her nose had detected it, it was impossible to miss or to ignore. She hadn't cared about her own weakness when she'd buried her face in Luke's chest while the police inspected the scene, and it hadn't escaped her notice that Luke had buried his nose in her hair to avoid the smell. She wondered if the scent of her coconut shampoo had been strong enough to eliminate the scent of death. Half an hour and several conversations over the portable radios later, the police had allowed the two of them to go back home, back to the diner. While Luke had tried to serve the few customers who had came in she had thought about calling Rory and telling her what had happened but had decided against it. She didn't know anything about this dead woman and the circumstances surrounding how she had ended up dead in the lake yet and she was sure her daughter would worry. Strangely enough she had also thought about calling her mother but had decided against that even faster.

The news had spread fast, and no sooner had the FBI techs arrived and the diner was empty and every once in a while she could see through the diner window another nosy citizen of Stars Hollow hurrying in direction of the lake.

She and Luke hadn't talked much, only about coffee and Kleenex that they had passed back and forth. She drank the coffee, he re-filled it. She started to sniffle, he handed her the Kleenex.

She rolled from her side onto her back and stared up at the ceiling without seeing it. She just couldn't sleep and lying in the darkness listening to the silence was driving her crazy.

"Luke?" she whispered, the possibility still in her head that maybe, just maybe, he was asleep.

"Yah?" he whispered back and she sighed in relief that this farce of 'pretending to sleep although they both know they weren't' was over.

"I can't sleep," she said unnecessarily, but she didn't know what else to say.

"Me neither," he replied and then there was silence again. She wracked her brain for what she could say to get their conversation away from anything sleep or dead body related and it took her a while to come up with something. It was the first thing that crossed her mind and maybe it wasn't a good idea, but it was better than not saying anything.

"Will you tell Nicole that I spent the night here this time?" she asked. She heard Luke shifting on the couch.

"I don't know. Maybe, if it comes up," he answered warily.

"You mean if she asks you out of the blue if I spent the night here, just like last time?" she prodded.

"Last time it just didn't come up. This time it might, I don't know," he said defensively.

"Why didn't it come up last time? Didn't you tell her that the Inn burned down and that I used your bed as well as your kitchen and that it drove you crazy?" she asked.

"It just didn't come up, ok? I told her that the Inn burned down. She asked if everyone was ok and I told her that everyone was. She didn't ask any more questions, I didn't tell her any more. And it wasn't that bad," he replied and crossed his arms under his head.

"Sookie drove you crazy," she said and smiled slightly at the memory.

"Sookie always drives me crazy but we learned to compromise for the day," he replied and the silence stretched again.

"Why didn't you drive to Litchfield tonight? Won't Nicole be worried when you don't come home?" Lorelai broke the silence again.

"I thought it was better to stay here and I would have spent the night here tonight anyway because I was closing. I always stay here when I close because I don't want to wake her when I come home so late. Or when I get up really early when I have to open," he explained.

"But wait, if you don't spend the night when you're closing and you don't spend the night when you're opening then when exactly do you actually sleep in your new house?"

"You're doing it again," Luke sighed. "Can we please just drop it?"

"Sure," she shrugged and waited for him to say something. She was out of ideas for topics to talk about so in her book it was his turn to come up with something. Without forewarning he switched on the light that stood by the couch. She blinked against the glare and turned her head in his direction.

"Wanna play cards? We're not gonna sleep tonight anyway," he said as he sat up.

"Oh thank god," Lorelai sighed in relief and got out of bed.

~*~

She couldn't remember the last time she had been this tired, and yet only the thought of closing her eyes and falling asleep scared her. With her head resting against the table she watched Luke serving the customers their food and he didn't look much better. They had played cards until it had been time to get ready for opening the diner and she had freshened up at the bathroom sink and changed back into the clothes from the day before while Luke had talked to his bread guy. She just didn't care. She didn't want to walk through the darkness to her empty house. She would stop by after breakfast when it was light out and people were out on the streets.

"Sugah, have you already heard? That woman in the lake was Nicole, Luke's wife," Babette said when she sat down at Lorelai's table, looking around to make sure that Luke couldn't hear her.

"What?" Lorelai asked confused about how she had come up with something like this.

"Patty talked to Andrew this morning who spoke to East Side Tilly and that old witch saw Nicole here in Stars Hollow about four weeks ago and then she vanished. And from what I have seen, it could definitely be true. The same blonde hair, same eyes…" Babette trailed off and Lorelai sat up.

"You didn't see anything! I saw her Babette. I saw that woman in the lake with her mouth hanging open, her blue skin and those huge eyes. You should stop telling everyone that this is Nicole because, thank god for Luke, she is not. Nicole is in Litchfield where she moved into a townhouse with Luke three weeks ago," Lorelai replied angrily and her neighbor hurried off without another word, knowing that she had obviously crossed the line.

"What was that all about?" Luke asked when he came up next to her with the coffee pot in his hands.

"Nothing, she was just annoying me with her stupid gossip," Lorelai sighed, already sorry she had been so rude to her neighbor. "God, I am just so tired," she sighed and rested her head back against the surface of the table.

"You can go back upstairs and sleep for a while if you want to," Luke offered shyly.

"No, I need a shower and a change of clothes as well. I think I'll just go home," she replied and slowly stood up.

"I'll walk you home," Luke said and started to walk to the counter to put the coffee pot down, but she held by the arm to stop him.

"It's ok Luke. It's light out and people are everywhere as they are rush to get to work. I'll be fine," she told him although she didn't sound too convinced.

"Lorelai, really, I would feel better if you let me walk you home," he replied and rubbed the bridge of his nose with one hand.

"Luke, stay here I'll be fine," she reassured him again and gave him a small smile before she walked out of the diner. She turned left this time and decided to walk through the streets that were as far away from the lake as possible, even if that meant a slight detour through Stars Hollow. She didn't feel as comfortable and safe anymore, like she had all the years that she had lived there. She knew she was being irrational. As far as she knew the woman by the lake could have had an accident. Maybe she had been scared of the ducks as well and had stumbled over something and had fallen and hurt herself? It was only speculation that it had been a murder and if she needed to deny that possibility for her own sanity she would do that. After all she was the queen of denial.

When she reached her home she locked the door behind her and drew the blinds shut. Slowly she walked from room to room to see for herself that everything looked just the same. Maybe Luke coming with her hadn't been such a bad idea after all. She smiled when she saw the tulip that she had placed in a glass with water on the kitchen table. The small card was still attached to it with a thin thread and she opened it and read the typed words again.

_I will see you soon. I am sorry_

She closed the card again, wondering who had sent it to her. She could have sworn that it had been Luke but he had denied it several times and she believed him. With whom else had she been in a fight recently? Who needed to apologize to her? Jason maybe? He surely had a reason to, actually he had several reasons, but she doubted that he would apologize that way to her. If he ever apologized to anyone at all he would surely go over the top with expensive jewelry or rare flowers and wouldn't just place a single tulip on her front porch. Still, he had been the one who hadn't been able to sleep in the same bed as her and then he had brought another woman to a dinner, a woman who hadn't worn any underwear as her mother had informed her. Once again she decided against Jason as the possible tulip- giver and walked out of the kitchen, through the living room and up the stairs. She was in desperate need for a shower, not only because she felt dirty but also because it would help her relax, maybe even enough to let her sleep for a while afterwards. She picked up some clothes in her bedroom, undressed and went to the bathroom. She looked at herself in the mirror while she waited for the water to heat up and to her relief she looked normal. Tired, yes, but her eyes were still the same size as yesterday and she might be a bit pale but her skin wasn't blue-ish and her face not bloated like the woman's had been. She stepped into the shower and closed her eyes when the hot water poured over her, washing away the smell of death that she thought was still clinging to her.

~*~

"Lorelai, are you all right?" Emily Gilmore asked when she hurried into Lorelai's house later that day.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Lorelai asked confused, her hair still tousled from her attempts to find sleep. The incessant knocking on her front door had annoyed her and she had tried to ignore it for a while but it had been fruitless and now that she knew that her mother had been responsible for it, she knew why.

"Why didn't you answer your phone?" Emily asked angrily and set her handbag down on the table in the living room.

"I put my cell phone on vibrate and unplugged the phone because I wanted to sleep. I wasn't able to sleep last night and I was just so tired. Did anything happen? Is dad ok?" Lorelai asked, getting worried about what could be so important that her mother drove to Stars Hollow.

"Lorelai," Emily shrieked in outrage, "You found a dead body yesterday and yet you didn't bother to call and I had to find out from strangers." she said.

"I'm sorry mom, I would have told you. It was just so late last night and then this morning all I wanted to do was sleep," she explained and plopped down on the couch, somewhat relieved that her father was ok.

"Are you alright?" her mother asked, perching on the edge of the seat beside her.

"Yeah, I guess. We were just really shocked last night and I think it'll be a while before I can get the pictures out of my head," she admitted.

"We?" Emily raised a brow.

"Yeah, Luke was with me when we saw the body. He meant to protect me from evil ducks and instead we found… that," she explained and leaned her head against the back of the couch, closing her eyes. Suddenly a thought crossed her mind and she opened them again. "How do you know about this anyway?" she asked her mother, intrigued what strings Emily Gilmore was pulling in Stars Hollow without her knowledge.

"Mrs. Kim informed me that the delivery of the table I found at her shop would be a day later because you had found a dead body yesterday afternoon," Emily enlightened her. "Although I still don't understand how that affects the time of my delivery" she added.""After we found the body and the police arrived everyone was standing out there at the scene watching when the FBI inspected the body," Lorelai explained and yawned while Emily watched her closely.

"I should go and let you sleep," Emily said taking in daughter's condition and got up from the couch.

"I can't sleep anyway," Lorelai muttered and cursed herself a second later because she knew she had given her mother a reason not to leave yet. But did she really want her to leave? For once she actually felt safer now that her mother was there. Really, which killer could get past Emily Gilmore?

"Then why don't you lie down here in the living room and I will make us a cup of tea?" Emily asked and Lorelai had to admit that that didn't sound too bad.

"Ok, mom. The tea is in the cupboard on the right," she explained, shifting on the couch into a lying position and closed her eyes. She heard her mother rummaging in her kitchen and hoped she wouldn't find the socks that were still in drying the stove. When Emily came back into the living room with the tea her daughter was fast asleep. She smiled at the picture of Lorelai's sleeping form nearly falling off the couch and sighed in relief that her daughter was ok.

~*~

Lorelai had just hung up the phone after talking to Rory and assuring her that she was just fine and that there was no need to come home from Yale, when there was a knock on the door. Her mother had left an hour ago after actually preparing some decent pasta in the kitchen, unfortunately discovering the socks in the oven while doing so, but now she was alone in the house.

"Who is it?" she asked and switched on the porch light so she could maybe make someone out in the darkness.

"It's me, Luke," came the prompt reply and she opened the door.

"Was that door locked at least?" he asked her when he entered.

"Uhm, no," she had to admit.

Luke didn't comment on it and just shook his head before he glanced around the foyer. "Are you alone?" he asked her then.

"Yes, why?" she asked and followed him with a raised eyebrow into the living room.

"Because I have something to tell you and I don't want it all over Stars Hollow. It'll be out soon enough," he said and scratched his neck, a sign that he was clearly uncomfortable.

"Okay," she said and dragged the word out.

"I just got off the phone with Nicole," he said and started to pace the room while Lorelai watched him wondering what had happened with Nicole this time. Had he moved in for real now? Were they getting a divorce and he was moving back out?

"Uhuh," she said loudly when he remained silent after wards.

"She heard that we'd found a body here while she was at court. So she pulled some strings and called a friend of hers at the Jeffersonian, the institute that strange doctor was from. Apparently that woman is the best in her field and they only consult her on really important or gruesome cases," he reported and stopped once again, he even stopped pacing.

"Somehow I don't like the sound of that," Lorelai said and a worried look crossed her face.

"Nicole said that Cam, that's her friend there, said that the FBI and the people at the Jeffersonian think that she is the victim of a serial killer. Nicole said that they found another body in Woodbridge a while ago but were able to keep the media away from it. The murders resemble a certain pattern of murders that were committed fifteen years ago. Back then they weren't able to catch the guy and he suddenly stopped. And now it seems that he is back," Luke said in a rush.

"There's a serial killer on the loose who dumped a body here in Stars Hollow?" Lorelai asked with huge eyes.

"That's what the FBI thinks," Luke nodded and sat down beside Lorelai. "And that's why I want you to lock your doors," he told her and looked at her insistently.

"Ok," she just nodded, still numb with shock.

**TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

And here is the next chapter. Originally I had planned a really mean cliffhanger but then the next chapter would have been too short and the thing I wanted to come across wouldn't have...

Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them!

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**Chapter 4: Reality check**

_The body of a 32-year-old woman, missing for seven weeks, was found at the Stars Hollow Lake on Tuesday afternoon, according to the FBI._

_The body was identified as Hannah Ann Mitchell of Litchfield by Dr. Temperance Brennan, forensic anthropologist and Dr. Camille Saroyan, chief of the forensics department of the Jeffersonian. Mitchell was reported missing on October 16th when she didn't pick up her four year old daughter from kindergarten, police said. The FBI are continuing to investigate the circumstances of her death. They said no suspect was in custody._

_A couple found her body at the Stars Hollow lake at around 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, and alerted the Hartford police. Her body was recovered by a team from the Jeffersonian Institute and police divers at around 11 p.m. "I didn't hear anything or see anything unusual," Taylor Doose, town selectman of Stars Hollow said, "It's just a sad thing. It's left us all feeling uneasy and we will make sure nothing like this will ever happen again in our beautiful town. "_

Lorelai slowly lowered the newspaper and looked over at Luke who was standing beside her table in the diner. He had been the one who had pointed out the article in the Hartford Gazette and now he was waiting for her reaction.

"Hannah Ann Mitchell," Lorelai repeated the name, "She was younger than I am and had a little kid," she went on, informing Luke about what the article said although she knew that he had already read it.

"Yeah, Nicole said that the police think that she most likely knew her murderer. They think she let him in the house and was abducted from there," Luke replied, telling her what his wife had told him the night before on the phone. It had been five days since they had found the body and this was the first time that anything about it had appeared in the media.

"They don't say anything here about a potential serial killer," Lorelai pointed out quietly so the other people in the diner wouldn't hear her.

At that, Luke sat down at her table and leaned towards her. "Nicole said that they are pretty sure it's the same killer. Something about the same way of killing, same weapon, whatever. Problem is that they weren't able to identify that other woman yet because her body was in an even worse shape and so far they couldn't find anyone matching her in the missing people database," Luke whispered.

"How were they killed?" Lorelai asked because now her curiosity was piqued. Beside the gruesome circumstances, it was kind of exciting to talk to someone who knew more than the rest. She and Luke had found the body and now Nicole enabled them to know more than anyone else in Stars Hollow and even the media.

"Cam wouldn't tell. She just gave Nicole some basic information," Luke replied and sounded as disappointed as Lorelai felt.

"She wouldn't tell her best friend?" she asked somewhat astonished. If Sookie had this kind of information she was sure she wouldn't even have to ask to be told. Then again, they weren't coroners and lawyers.

"Cam isn't Nicole's best friend, they just worked together on a few cases in New York a few years ago," Luke said.

"I always thought Nicole was a contract attorney and not one to defend the bad boys," Lorelai replied and leaned back in her chair to get some distance from him. He was still leaning on the table and they were way too close for her taste to discuss his wife's career.

"At first, she worked at a small office in New York before she got the job in Hartford. I don't know who exactly she defended or what they were accused of but some of it must have led her to Cam," Luke explained.

"Have you met Cam?" Lorelai wanted to know.

"No, why?" Luke asked confused.

"Because you call her Cam," Lorelai pointed out.

"I didn't even know her full name until I read it in the newspaper," Luke replied and got up. "You ok? You want something else to eat?" he asked and pointed to the empty plate in front of her.

"No, I'm good. Maybe just a coffee to go, I have an appointment with our linen guy in Hartford in forty minutes," she replied, grabbing her bag and followed him to the counter.

~*~

After her meeting with her future linen supplier Lorelai walked the few meters from his office where her car stood to a small coffee shop on the other side of the road. Originally she had planned on going home immediately afterwards because she really needed to catch up on all of the work for the Inn, but now she just couldn't.

Ever since she had left Stars Hollow she had the feeling that someone was watching her. While driving she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand up, causing her to look more into the rear vision mirror than on the street in front of her. She couldn't see anyone following her and honestly: Why would anyone follow her? She knew that she was being ridiculous and that the reason why she was scared was that she had been confronted with the woman's identity this morning. Ok, her former love of horror movies could also have something to do with it. She knew all this and still she didn't want to go anywhere where there weren't at least twenty strong men surrounding and protecting her. Maybe one of them had been following her?

She ordered a cup of coffee and looked around. They all looked perfectly normal and not like some creepy serial killer. There, she thought, I am doing it again. Ever since she had found that body she was scared and maybe in need of some psychological help. Maybe she shouldn't have turned down the police's offer to talk to a psychologist so fast.. She read about rape, violence and murder every day, saw it on the news and on TV and it had never bothered her. Sure, sometimes when something extremely horrible happened she felt disgusted but she had never been scared. Just because she had been the person who had found the body this time, didn't mean that she was in greater danger of something happening to her than before, right? She had never before considered locking her front-door and before she'd never switched on the alarm system Kirk had installed, but now she did both of those things. She even locked her bedroom door and the windows in her bedroom, so that if someone made it into her house she would have a small chance at least.

She knew she was being paranoid, that was probably the worst part. She had told Luke that there was no need for him to sleep on her couch because she had been too embarrassed to admit that she was scared and that she needed help.

Even now, she was considering calling Luke so that he would come and pick her up, but at the same time she knew that she could not do it. She couldn't call him every time she got scared, he had a business to run and he had a wife. It wasn't his job to protect her even if she were in danger.

"Get a grip," she told herself, as she placed some money on the table and left the shop. Glancing furtively around she crossed the street again and turned right into the public parking garage where she had parked her car. Although it was only afternoon the garage was only dimly lit and nearly empty. The sound of her footsteps echoed loudly through the empty space. Every few seconds she turned her head and checked in all directions that she really wasn't being followed. She breathed out in relief when she saw her car only a few meters away from her but that relief vanished when she suddenly heard other footsteps. She turned around to see who was in the garage with her but she couldn't see anyone. She sped up and felt her heart beating faster when she realized that whoever was there with her sped up as well. She started running, the sound of her feet hitting the concrete got louder - as did the echo of the other persons' footsteps because he had started running as well.

Breathless and scared, she reached her car and fumbled with her bag to find her car keys. With both hands, she dug through her bag while she heard him coming closer and closer. She found the key and put it into the lock when a hand came down on her shoulder, grabbed her and turned her around. Lorelai screamed.

~*~

With trembling fingers she dialed the number she had just been given and then pressed the phone to her ear. She noticed that it smelled faintly of cologne and something she could not place. She looked around her as she listened to the beeping sound on the other end of the line. She felt relieved when finally someone picked up but that feeling was replaced by awkwardness and humiliation when she realized that she wasn't talking to the person she wanted to.

"Uhm, hi Nicole, it's me, uh, Lorelai. I'm in the diner and I wanted to speak to Luke but he wasn't here and then Caesar told me that he was at your place, I mean his place, uh, your place together that is," she rambled and then took a deep breath before she asked, "Can I talk to Luke, please?"

"Yes, sure, just a second," Nicole replied and Lorelai could hear her moving through the house and telling Luke that Lorelai was on the phone. Luke took the phone from Nicole with some surprise and wondered what had happened that Lorelai would call him here. She never called him in Stars Hollow so why would she call now?

"Lorelai?" he asked and sat up on the black leather couch. He knew that Nicole didn't like it when he was squishing around on the couch in his jeans but he didn't care now and ignored the unnerved look she gave him.

"Yeah Luke it's me. I know that you're not in Stars Hollow anymore which is obvious because I am talking to you and Caesar gave me the number of your new home. I'm sorry, I…" she rambled until Luke interrupted her.

"Lorelai what happened?" he asked, sensing that she wasn't ok.

"I was in Hartford today and I had to park my car in a parking garage and when I wanted to drive home it was already dark and I heard steps behind me and thought that this serial killer was coming after me and I panicked. I ran to my car and he ran after me and then he turned me around and I thought he was going to kill me," she said and he shot off the couch and started to pace the room under the watchful eyes of his wife.

"Who ran after you?" he asked.

"It was only Jason. He had seen me outside and followed me to talk to me. I think I completely freaked him out with my reaction," Lorelai admitted.

"So you're ok?" Luke asked just to me sure.

"Yes, I am ok. I'm just scared to go home alone. I can't sleep anymore. I keep hearing footsteps and strange noises although I am completely alone. I think I'm losing my mind, Luke," she admitted sadly.

"It's ok. You stay where you are, I'll be in Stars Hollow in half an hour, ok?"

"Ok," she agreed.

"See ya then," he replied.

"See you Luke, and thank you!" she said and hung up.

Luke looked at Nicole, the phone still in his hand and he could already tell that she didn't like what she had just heard.

"What happened?" she asked with an edge to her voice that made Luke sigh.

"Lorelai thought someone was stalking her and she is really freaked out and doesn't want to be alone," he replied honestly.

"And she called you to do what?" she wanted to know.

"She wants me to come by. She needs a friend, Nicole," he said and tied his shoes that had been standing beside the couch.

"Doesn't she have other friends? And what about her daughter? Why isn't she coming to Stars Hollow to look after her mother?"

"Rory shouldn't be in Stars Hollow as long as it is not safe," Luke replied and his voice got louder. He was angry about the not so subtle attack against Rory.

"Why is it not safe?" she looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"You know about the dead body Nicole. You said yourself that it was most likely a serial killer who killed her," he shot back.

"This is ridiculous! _You _are being ridiculous! Do you know how many dead bodies are out there that are never found? Do you know how many serial killers are on the loose in this country?" she yelled at him.

"I don't want Lorelai to be alone as long as they haven't found the guy who did this!" he yelled back.

"And what if they never find him? Are you going to move in with her? Is that what you want? And what about me, Luke? What about _me_? It is ok for me to be alone in this house? The woman was from Litchfield, she was abducted here, right here in this town and not in Stars Hollow. Yet you don't give a damn about leaving me alone here. You can't save everyone, Luke! You cannot follow her every move just because a dead body was found. Do you know how many dead bodies I have seen in my life? Do you know how many raped, beaten and robbed women I have talked to? Some of them were tortured in ways I can't even describe to you and still you never asked me if I was scared to be alone here night after night while you hide in your old apartment above the diner," she screamed and Luke hung his head because he knew she was right. She was right about everything she said. And still the thought that Lorelai was sitting alone at home scared was too much for him.

"I'm sorry, Nicole," he said softly and kissed her on the cheek before he left the house.

**TBC

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Is anyone else feeling sorry for Nicole? I sure am.**


End file.
